Another Level

Led by Dane Bowers, Another Level were designed as an urban pop group - tougher, meaner and less respectable than most of the squeaky clean doe-eyed boy bands popular at the time. While the likes of Take That and Boyzone were the unthreatening teenage pin-ups of the day, Another Level symbolised a more dangerous proposition with their strutting, streetwise mix of R&B, soul, hip hop and dance music. They were originally put together by music executive Nick Raphael who used his connections with Roc-A-Fella Records to secure guest spots from Jay-Z and Ghostface Killah on platinum-selling debut album Another Level (1998). It produced the huge UK Number 1 single Freak Me and the band went on to score seven Top 10 singles and tour with Janet Jackson. Their second album Nexus (1999) also fared well, reaching Number 7, but the group split in 2000 with Bowers going on to collaborate with Truesteppers on the hit Buggin and work with Victoria Beckham on Out Of Your Mind, before moving into the world of reality television with appearances on Celebrity Big Brother and Come Dine With Me.